I guess the many problem with CRAZY IN ALABAMA is that it just isn't. Sure there are craziness that run through the film, but the film's focus often feels misplaced. The movie concerns two concurrent stores, both of which take place in small town Alabama in the mid 60s, and are narrated by a lad called Peejoe. The first story concerns Peejoe's Aunt Lucille--who is crazy in Alabama. When the story opens she drops her 7 children off at her mothers' house and drives off to California with the head of her husband in a tupperware container on the backseat. So Lucille is crazy; A life of dangerous boredom has driven her to not only kill her husband, but also to decapitate him. Now Lucille's lunacy leads her off to Hollywood to seek fame and fortune.

Peejoe shakes his head in admiration at Aunt Lucille, as if her insanity is inspired. It's not long before he becomes aware of a different kind of craziness that is occurring in his own hometown, when he witnesses the local sheriff kill a black youth named Taylor, for trying to swim in the town pool. One he's less impressed by.

The two stories parallel each other at first, but gradually their lines converge through Peejoe. Since he alone witnessed the death of the Taylor, Peejoe holds an ace against the sheriff. Desperate to out trump him, the Sherriff offers leniency for Aunt Lucille if Peejoe will hold his peace.

I enjoyed the individual moments of Crazy in Alabama, rather than the movie as a whole. Lucas Black plays Peejoe with an intensity only youth and innocence can muster. Melanie Griffith was acceptable in the role of Lucille, but the real light of the movie shines through the dome of Rod Steiger who appears at the end of the film as the judge. By the time this yarn winds its way to court, I think most viewers have given up any hope of taking the movie seriously at all, and Rod Steiger caps it all off. To suggest he is idiosyncractic is an understatement. He is captured in many ridiculous moods and poses, which throws credibility to the wind, but makes for much entertainment.

And I did chuckle when Sheriff Doggett, played stoically by Meat Loaf, opens the freezer lid to discover the body of Lucille's husband. It was rather reminiscent of a scene in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, except Meatloaf is on the other side of the ice.

Crazy in Alabama is not a great film. There are moments of truth that can't be overlooked in the film. For the most part, however, it's only the entertainment aspects that truly work.